Real Murcia 3-Barca 5, a.k.a. “What’s up with the glass?”
Real Murcia 3-Barca 5, a.k.a. “What’s up with the glass?”
So. Is the glass half-full, or half-empty? Depends. The half-fullers will say “See, the lads just needed to relax and be a bit more direct, so that truth, goodness and joga bonito can prevail. They want to fire coaches and sell players after that glorious display? Lordy!” The half-empties will say “Yeah, anybody can beat up a [...]
So. Is the glass half-full, or half-empty?
Depends.
The half-fullers will say “See, the lads just needed to relax and be a bit more direct, so that truth, goodness and joga bonito can prevail. They want to fire coaches and sell players after that glorious display? Lordy!”
The half-empties will say “Yeah, anybody can beat up a side that is going down, with absolutely nothing to play for, and that has been leaking goals like a stringless net.”
The truth is somewhere in the middle.
Nous from the Camp
Another week, another crucial injury, another rumor, another mega signing on the way. It’s just humdrum life at FC Barcelona, eh? First the real news and then the speculation: Gabi Milito has suffered an ACL tear that will require surgery and will put him on the sideline for around 6 months. The injury occurred during the [...]
Another week, another crucial injury, another rumor, another mega signing on the way. It’s just humdrum life at FC Barcelona, eh?
First the real news and then the speculation: Gabi Milito has suffered an ACL tear that will require surgery and will put him on the sideline for around 6 months. The injury occurred during the Manchester United match a week ago, but, oddly enough, didn’t cause him to stop playing at the time as it usually does. After the match he got examined by the doctors and they found that he was busted. Crap. That probably means we’ll have to go in a different direction with our transfer policy because we can now no longer focus on the midfield and one defensive position. Rather, we’ll have another two new defenders, which will put our team in the same awkward situation of trying to gel that they were in throughout this year. Hopefully no other disasters befall our team during the next few months (in the league or in Euro2008).Now, on to the rumors: According to both Sport and EMD, quoting TV3, Pep Guardiola will be the manager next year. This is interesting news, if true, and is certainly the direction I’d like to go if (and only if) Frank Rijkaard steps down or is fired. If I were Frankie, I would be out of there because he can no longer do anything correctly by the fans or the board. And while I think he’s eating the bullets that should be aimed at the board, that is the life of a manager at a high-pressure club. It’s unfortunate and I’d like to see him get another year, along with Deco, Ronaldinho, and anyone else who is (supposedly) on the bus out of town. Pep is at least an in-house choice and has worked wonders with the Barca B team. You know he lives and dies Barcelona, so he’ll bring that kind of passion to the first team. Hopefully he can succeed by building on Rijkaard’s brilliance rather than putting the team into an entirely new system. I have my doubts, but if that’s the where the team wants to go, at least they’re keeping it all in the family.
The latest, greatest, rumor is that we’re in the David Villa race. Of course, that’s just stupid, because we have Eto’o, Henry, and some kid named Bojan to fill that position. If Real Madrid really want Villa then maybe we’re just “in it” to increase the price on their end. I just don’t think that we’re really going to go for another huge name striker unless we get rid of both Eto’o and Henry, something that would be very, very unintelligent. In my opinion, of course, as humble as it is…
Barca vs Mallorca, or “Here’s to happier times,” Sunday, 3 p.m. ET, (5pm on GolTV)
Okay. Time to play out the string, to find out what kind of fans we have at the Camp Nou. We’re bound for third place, and will have to play our way into the Champions League next season. Frank Rijkaard and Ronaldinho, two faces who came to epitomize all that this side stands for and [...]
Okay. Time to play out the string, to find out what kind of fans we have at the Camp Nou. We’re bound for third place, and will have to play our way into the Champions League next season. Frank Rijkaard and Ronaldinho, two faces who came to epitomize all that this side stands for and strives for, are no more. One is off, most recent rumors say to Chelsea, the other is, depending on what you believe, off to AC Milan to join Mourinho and Drogba, again if you believe the football rumor mill.
What we do know is this: Mallorca is up, and we are at home with precious little to play for except a rousing send-off for a coach that I believe most of the players and a great many fans have come to love and respect.
Will there be the same kind of malaise there was during el Clasico, or will the players want to send out their chief with a smile on his face? I’m betting the latter, and that some serious stonk will be put down on a 7th-place Mallorca side that has been a very pleasant surprise this season. And their striker, Dani Guiza, can get a feel for what many hope will be his new home next season.
Welcome Back, Pep
Well, it’s out with the old, in with the new. The new, of course, just happens to be an old face around the Camp Nou: Josep “Pep” Guardiola. But who is Pep Guardiola and what does he bring to the table? First, let’s discuss what he has already brought to the table in the past. Born [...]
Well, it’s out with the old, in with the new. The new, of course, just happens to be an old face around the Camp Nou: Josep “Pep” Guardiola.
But who is Pep Guardiola and what does he bring to the table? First, let’s discuss what he has already brought to the table in the past. Born in 1971, Guardiola first joined Barcelona B at the age of 13. In 1990, at the age of 19, he made the step up to the first team. He played for Barça for 11 years, earning the captaincy in 1997. He left in 2001 and began to move from team to team, ending up in Italy, Qatar, and eventually Mexico, where he retired in 2006. As a member of the Spanish national team, Guardiola won the gold medal at the ‘92 Barcelona Olympics (the first U-23 Olympic competition) and played in the 1994 World Cup and Euro2000.
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Evil Empire 4-Barca 1, or “Pimp slap is front of the hand, back of the head.”
That’s what we did. Rolled over and showed our goddamned bellies like a submissive dog, at a time when we should have been playing for a bit of pride, playing for the colors, fighting like savages for at least some salvation for this season of pustulence. Instead, we get played off the pitch by a team [...]
That’s what we did. Rolled over and showed our goddamned bellies like a submissive dog, at a time when we should have been playing for a bit of pride, playing for the colors, fighting like savages for at least some salvation for this season of pustulence.
Instead, we get played off the pitch by a team that showed us how it’s done.
Murcia - Barcelona: The End of the End, Saturday 4pm (GolTV)
Well, it’s the last preview of the 2007/08 season and it can’t come fast enough for most of us. We all want to get on with the changes, with the new era that will be beginning at the final whistle. But this is could be our last chance to see several of our players in [...]
Well, it’s the last preview of the 2007/08 season and it can’t come fast enough for most of us. We all want to get on with the changes, with the new era that will be beginning at the final whistle. But this is could be our last chance to see several of our players in the stripes: Eto’o, Zambrotta, Guddie, Oleguer, Ezquerro, Pinto, perhaps even Henry. And it’s our last chance to see Rijkaard staring out impassively at the field while we wonder what the hell he’s thinking about. Or if he’s thinking anything.*
Valdés, Pinto, Xavi, Ezquerro, Puyol, Oleguer, Bojan, Eto’o, Messi, Abidal, Thuram, Henry, Zambrotta, Gudjohnsen, Giovani, Fali, Rueda.
Even without Deco, Ronnie, Iniesta, Toure, and Marquez, the potential lineups available should be more than enough to smack around a relegated team with nothing to play for. However, and I hope no one is offended by this, but Murcia sucks. I mean, they suck…a lot. They’re 7W-9D-21L with 33GF and 60GA. That’s a -27 goal differential, if you didn’t care to do the math. At home they are much better than away (6W-4D-8L, 18GF 21GA) but that 18 goals scored is the lowest in the entire league. Obviously Barcelona sucks away from home (4W-8D-6L, 25GF 28GA), but Murcia has to suck more, right? Right?! Oh god…
So we have a shot at not ending the year on a down, of recovering not only our away goal differential (currently at -3) and of sending of Frankie boy and company in the best way we can manage at this point: 3 more points and 3rd place in the league. If we lose and Atletico draws or wins (or if we draw and Atletico wins), we’re in 4th. Not that I mind 4th any more than 3rd, but why give the ruling junta at the top any more fuel for the fire? Why cause them to sacrifice even more players in a reactionary way?
That’s all I’ve got for the preview because, really, what’s there to talk about? It’s all about transfers right now, so let’s transfer away, I guess…I am so opposed to the sell-off that it’s not funny. Or maybe it is because it’s sports and I’m taking it personally. Regardless, I’m feeling the pain of it. Eto’o to Evil Empire Jr? F-that. Berlusconi can take his immigrant-hating ass elsewhere for a striker. Funny how that thinking doesn’t apply to soccer players…
*Apparently at his last press conference the press gave him a T-shirt that says, in Catalan, “You’ll never smoke alone” in an echo of the banner from the Camp Nou the weekend before. See the shirt here.
